In hopes of all these new plants - Plant markers?

14 years ago

Hi everyone!

I have high hopes that I'm going to have tons of plants to plant out this spring from WS'ing (this is my first year!) My question is, particularly if you want to collect/share seeds in the fall - what's the best type of plant marker to use that are economical and yet will last out in the sun and rain? I'm eyeing the copper ones just for looks, but I don't think I'm necessarily that picky, and considering I have over 100 containers so far...what do ya'll use to keep everything straight?

--Samantha

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Comments (9)

bettylu_zone6a
14 years ago
Plain old pencil on white mini blinds that have been cut up are efficient, if not pretty. I can usually hide mine pretty easily either under the mulch or behind leaves.

I actually robbed the bottom bunch of slats from a too-long mini blind that were not needed from and you can't even tell! I just snipped them where the cord goes through and they slipped out easily!

BettyLu
bookjunky4life
14 years ago
I know many of you guys also use the solid white milk jugs to cut up for markers. I cut one up but I would just like something more solid. I think next time I raid the plastic recycle bin for jugs, I'll grab some of the thicker white plastic jugs or other miscellaneous plastic people throw in there (although they're not supposed to).
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I have been using river rocks, not stones, because I like more texture. Your rounded stones really look great. The ones I use are much harder to letter. I use my rocks to assemble caves for my fresh water aquariums, so I have two uses in mind when I go collecting. While I bleach and etch my aquarium rocks with vinigar (I don't paint my aquarium rocks - bad, bad, bad!), I just scrub the marker rocks for good paint adhesion. Then I spray with clear Krylon to seal them. If the grain looks good I leave them clear. In others, I spray them with Krylon Avacsdo, and use white or black paint sticks. I like the light green because they can be found easier in the spring when doing my cleanup (why take them in - they've been in the river for more years than I have been on our planet). I like the larger rocks because a plastic rake will not accidently move them. If I want to move them I only move them closer to the crown in fall to better locate them among leaves, etc., and out in spring so they barely are visible under the canopy of leaves. If I don't have to move them, like for my mini's, they settle into the soil nicely and are virtually unmoveable unless I want to move them. Krylon is good indoors and outdoors and I haven't had peeling, cracking or fading so far. Most hardware stores carry the Krylon paints and paint pencils- I get mine at Ace. Les
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I tend to stick my tag markers at about 2 o'clock, behind the plant and to the right.. mine tend to be about 8-10 inches due to the type of tag I'm using. I found a slew of the copper tags at Target last year in the dollar spot area. These tags are about three incehs long and one inch wide. I bought a punch set of letters at Harbor Freight and "stamped" the names of most of my Hosta, making my own stands out of thin steel rod I bought at Home Depot. The tag hangs down from the stand which I've bent at the top to accept the tag. The copper tarnished to a ruddy brown and the stands rusted something awful even after one winter. While not readily visable when I have the need to read them, I just have to look a little closer to see the embossed name, which I don't mind as I'd rather the tags "blend" in rather then stick out. Just a personal thing, I just try and keep the placement of my tags standard, I think that's the imporant part. Shannon
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A few years ago I read an article in some plant magazine where someone had tested every brand and type of marker they could find on the market to see which one lasted longer on outdoor plant labels. The author concluded that Black DecoColor Paint Markers were the longest lasting. I did a search online to see where to get them. By far the least expensive place I found was Dick Blick (for some reason, I love saying that very fast over and over) Art Supplies. These people not only had the best prices I could find but also had no minimum order. They were just wonderful to do business with in every way. I use the extra-fine type, but I also bought some fine and have used them for labels where I didn't have to write much. I made many of my labels years ago and can see no sign of fading. They do seem to basically last forever.
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Monte
14 years ago
Look at this.

Here is a link that might be useful: Embossed Labels
kimka
14 years ago
Plastic knives and a very fine point permanent sharpee. I'll also use plastic spoons and write on the bowl of the spoon. These pop into pots, the garden. I use white ones where I need to be sure I can find the label, clear ones where I want to be unobtrusive (yeah Iike I'm ever really unobtrusive).

KimKa
leisa_in_md
14 years ago
Cut up mini blinds and a paint pen has worked well for me. So far the paint pen hasn't faded.
kqcrna
14 years ago
A lot of the cheap metal ones rust terribly. Mini blinds are hard to stick into clay soil. Ditto cut up yogurt cups. I've tried them all.

I've been happy with the rigid plastic ones from Novosel, written with paint pen.

Karen
northforker
14 years ago
Just want to reinforce BLACK paint pen color. Last year I decide to get all fancy and bought green and blue paint pens too. The green faded completely and the blue was legible but barely. Black consistantly "Stays" without fade. I've got mini-blind/black paint pen markers in my yard that are two years old.
irisheyes66
14 years ago
I've tried almost everything, from pricey copper stake-type markers to Target "dollar stop" tin markers...in the end, I prefer white mini blinds with Sharpie/paint pen for writing. They're cheap (a single $4 blind from WalMart can yield hundreds of markers!), widely available, easy to spot in the dirt...when you're marking hundreds of jugs/bottles/transplants, this is the thriftiest way. I cut the top ends of mine with "Victorian" scrapbooking scissors, just to make them a bit fancy :-)

Karen makes a good point, the mini-blind strips are a bit harder to force into clay soil...so in the one area of my yard where this is an issue, I force a small weeder into the ground where I intend to place the marker, to help things along.

Susan
avoirgold
14 years ago
If you want metal, try this company:
http://www.eonindustries.com/catalog/

A lot of people go with the cut-up blinds or plastic tableware. When I use those, I mark them with a grease pencil. You can get one at any hardware store.

Jen

In hopes of all these new plants - Plant markers?

Comments (9)

bettylu_zone6a

bookjunky4life

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